Transitions in Life

I am a week behind on my blog!!

Today I presented at the Illinois Principal Association's, Principal Professional Conference in Peoria, Illinois. I drove down to Peoria on Friday, and stayed with a friend for the weekend. I lived in Peoria for 3 years when I first got out of college, and landed my first job in Peoria Public Schools. It was an interesting and nostalgic weekend, I went to take a picture of the first home that we owned, which looked like the size of a doghouse now! I was so excited to move into that house, as I was pregnant with our first child at the time. I saw three of my cousins who live in Peoria and we had so much fun just talking about how much fun we had as kids growing up and what was happening in our lives now.

It was ironic as I looked at all these firsts, that I have now just just completed my first year of retirement. Where did the time go? When I looked out into the group of attendees at my session for my presentation today, I noticed most of them were 30-45 years old. The age of education is changing, meaning that the Baby Boomers like me are moving out of teaching and administration and these younger administrators have new thoughts, new values, new visions, and new goals. Working with them, both teaching at the university level and in discussions, is so exciting to me!! They have some different perspectives, but their passion for education, learning and kids seem to be the same as mine. Still!! I asked them to share their transitions today during my presentation, and they shared: now an empty nester; new home, new baby and new job; and a 51 year old principal shared he was the father of a 23-month-old child. NOW THAT IS A TRANSITION!!!

Transition is a natural thing that we go through over and over in our lives. Changing and growing from the first breathe we take until our last breath. Some of those transitions are fun and exciting, some are painful and difficult, some we can control and some we have no control over at all.

Change happens externally, a new program or a new process; transition happens internally, how we adapt to the change or the new situation. Many times it is the painful or difficult transitions that take our time and attention. We need to focus on moving forward with change and being aware of the transitions that we are experiencing.

Accept the changes. Embrace the negative feelings that might arise from the changes you are facing. But then move forward to accepting those changes and building a support system that will assist you in moving forward positively. This will be the first day of change!!